Avon, Avon Lake recovering from storm, preparing for more rain

Eric Bonzar/EBonzar@MorningJournal.com Pumps were brought in to remove about 3 feet of standing water surrounding the Pilot, located at 39115 Colorado Road, in Avon May 13.

Still in the clean-up process, Avon Mayor Bryan Jensen said he’s hoping that storms projected for later this week won’t amount to the two to three inches of water the city experienced May 12.

“We did get a lot of rainfall, but when considering what happened in North Ridgeville, you see that things can be worse,” Jensen said. “As a city official, it’s difficult when things like that happen because residents look to you for a solution when you’re really just as affected by the situation as they are.

“My main concern now is the rainfall expected next because it would be a shame for residents to go through the same type of situation twice or three times in a week.”

In responding to flooding complaints in Avon Lake, Councilman Larry Meiners said Mayor Greg Zilka has been in discussion with Dave Kidder, spokesman for Republic Services, to get a large dumpster placed at the city’s Service Center on May 17 so residents can dispose of their flood-damaged items.

“We are in talks with Kidder right now for one dumpster, but we’re hoping we can get that extended to two dumpsters,” Meiners said. “We’ve already told Republic that we are willing to pay the necessary labor and dumping fees for this additional service. But we are asking residents to only bring their water damaged items as nothing else will be accepted.”

Meiners said city officials are willing to check residents identifications to ensure that the service is only being extended to people who live in Avon Lake.

The Avon Lake Service Department is located at 750 Avon Belden Road.

Also, Lorain Public Library officials said their Columbia Branch is closed until further notice due to some flooding damage.

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Adriana is the courts and county reporter for Lorain County. She has a B.A. in Journalism and Promotional Communication from Cleveland State University. Reach the author at aadkins@morningjournal.com
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